Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Katherine Austen
Summary: Starts Post S3 Ep1, Skate, JackJuliet. Sawyer and Kate become closer as the other's pair them together to work, and Jack finds solace in Juliet as they all find their purpose R&R.
1. Chapter 1: In the Shadows

**Title:** Why the Caged Bird Sings

**Pairings:** Skate, Juliet/Jack

**Disclaimer:** Don't sue me, I own no one. If it were legal, I'd have Josh Holloway in my closet right now. And maybe a polar bear.

**Notes**: Welcome to my first new fic in AGES. I was inspired by "A Tale of Two Cities" and my new pairing love, Jack & Juliet, but mainly the SWEET Skate scene. Oh, Fish biscuit of love! Begins after "A Tale of Two Cities" and will intertwine my own ideas and actual scenes from the episodes, as always review and let me know what you think!

Just a short chapter to get things going, Skate primarily in this chapter but Jack/Juliet in the end.

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A free bird leaps on the back of the wind

and floats downstream till the current ends

and dips his wing in the orange suns rays and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage

can seldom see through his bars of rage

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill

of things unknown but longed for still

and his tune is heard on the distant hill

for the caged bird sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze

and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill

of things unknown but longed for still

and his tune is heard on the distant hill

for the caged bird sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou

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He couldn't sleep. It wasn't the moist ground or the cool nights breeze, it was her. He couldn't stop watching her. Watching to make sure her chest still fell and rose again, hoping she'd stir a little so he'd know she was alright. She shivered in the moonlight as he sat bare chested against the steel bars of his cage. He had thrown her his shirt as soon and the sun began to set and she didn't accept at first, but he demanded. She didn't deserved to freeze, and he cou;dn't get over how gorgeous she looked in that dress.

Freckles, in a dress. Now I've seen it all, he kept thinking to himself. That didn't give his body as stir as much as seeing her body shake with sobs did. She tried to hid it, curled up on the concrete towards the back of her cell, pretending like she was tired, but he watched her body shake as she cried.

"Freckles?' He called out in the darkness. The lights had faded and now the moon was all that guided his eyes to her figure across the way.

He figured she wouldn't answer but she sat up and wrapped her hands around the bars, staring at him through the beams of moonlight.

She didn't say anything, her eyes just trying to focus on his figure.

"How you doin'?" He asked.

She swallowed hard, holding back the tears she wanted to cry in his arms.

"I'm surviving," she softly said.

"I could try and get you another fish biscuit," he laughed.

"Don't want you to overload your brain, Sawyer," she replied with a laugh.

He had served his purpose, getting her mind off the horrors of their world for a moment and getting a tiny bit of laughter from her throat.

"You feelin' any warmer?" Sawyer asked.

"Not much but thanks," she replied.

"Aww, well, you know if I could I'd squeeze my ass through these bars and fix that," he laughed.

"I don't need to ask, how do I? I'm pretty sure I know how your mind works," she stated.

"Do I look like a cuddler?" He asked.

Kate wiped the tears that rested in the corners of her eyes and sighed, "I just hate waiting, waiting to find out what we're in for."

"Thanks Freckles, just killed my purpose in life," Sawyer groaned.

"What?" she asked.

"My purpose, keepin' your mind of the daily dilemma, you killed it," he answered.

She felt comforted by his words and southern drawl in the darkness, warmed by what she felt deep inside.

"Didn't know you had a purpose, Tex," she said, trying not to sound too touched, she didn't want to embarrass herself, as if she could do so anymore.

"Yeah well, gotta find somethin' when you're stuck in a cage eatin' bear food, Sassafras."

Kate lets go of the bars, her hands smelling of rusty metal, squiggly lines from the rough bars pressed into her palms. She rubbed her arms, hoping to warm her hands and she sighed, trying to place the moon in the sky.

"I'm glad...I'm glad you're over there, Sawyer," Kate said softly, her voice carrying on the wind.

Sawyer laid himself back on his elbows and pictured her bright face in the sunlight. He smiled to himself and spoke up, "Yeah, I'm glad you're over there, Freckles."

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She couldn't get him out of her mind if she tried. His pained face and sorrow filled eyes haunted her. He was just supposed to be a file, a specimen, she was just supposed to be a voice in the dark and he's answer her pained and she's carry in. Shoot him down with a taser if he got rowdy and leave his food behind the door. In his eyes she saw much more then she wanted and it made her stomach flitter and flip.

Her fingers traced the countless words in his file, as she read up on his family. Sarah, the name alone hurt him like a thousand firey knives through his heart, and she told herself to be careful and never say the name again.

Why be careful? Why worry if he were pained or hurt, it wasn't her concern. Keep him fed, monitor him, Ben ordered.

She locked eyes with Ben and her glared at her with a fury. He saw it, he saw what she felt and he could see she was going soft. He closed the door behind him and left her to fend for herself.

Jack's emotional pain had finally brought him to the point where he couldn't fight any longer. He laid on the examining table and she watched his chest rise, his eyes straing up at the chains above him. He didn't even move when she left the water bottle and peanut butter sandwich behind the the door.

She urged him with her mind to drink, to eat, to speak again but he said nothing.

So she sat in the silence, drowning in her thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2: Live Together, Die Alone

Chapter 2: Live Together, Die Alone.

NOTES: I'm still in my dark dreary what's in their heads bit of this fic as the season opens, I basically know where I'm heading especially with aspects of last night's episode. I giggled with glee as certain theories I have are seemingly coming through, if you know me well enough you know what I'm saying. This is the season for Skate! Hahaha.

With that gibberish said, read, enjoy, review and let me know what you think.

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She lied.

She lied through her teeth and was forced to sit in the silence, thoughts heavy on her mind.

She closed her eyes and relived the moment, the words slipping up from her throat and sliding off her tongue. She stood in the puddle he had proudly built up and wanted to be electrocuted the moment she realized she had actually said it. In his eyes she watched the sparks die and his passion fade.

She broke his heart.

She didn't want to, it wasn't her plan. She thought she would protect him, she didn't need to be loved, loving Kate Austen meant certain death. She saw the secrets in his eyes and it angered her, the anger and the worry, the pain and the apprehension piled up into one and she said it.

She said she didn't mean it, her confession of love seemingly fake. She climbed back into her cage and there she still sat, fresh clean clothes and smelling of cheap dish soap and rust from the cage bars.

She watched him clean his wounds, over and over again, as if he was washing away more then just dirt and blood. Maybe sins, maybe memories but she wanted in, she wanted in his head and she didn't know where to begin.

She couldn't take it back, the dagger already pierced his flesh and the wound poured out raw emotion, it was too soon for I'm sorry and take backs.

She lied.

She lied a lot when she was a young girl, she lied about the bruises and why she didn't want him to pick her up from school. She lied about who she was so many times that it almost felt like she truly had forgotten who really existed inside her.

He made her feel real again, he didn't care where she came from or what she did. He felt her and she felt him, he understood her without speaking.

But Kate Austen, as in love with the concept of love as she was...no matter how hard she tried to hide it, she ruined every relationship she wandered into, and smashed it to pieces.

For a second their eyes met and he just shook his head, she didn't know if it was disappointment or defeat that forced him to do so, she was still stuck on one thing.

She lied.

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The loud noises buzzed over the intercom as she guided him back to his holding cell. Kate didn't bother to scream his name and Sawyer didn't even turn, they both sat in silence, staring off into the distance.

How quickly they had given up, fallen into line, and she wondered why Kate no longer fought for Jack's attention, didn't seem eager to grab his attention and hold it.

Juliet was burdened by thoughts and feelings, feeling sitting heavy on her heart. Something in his eyes gave her butterflies and something in his voice gave her strength.

They walked in silence until they reached the thick door and she guided him in. He went to the corner and sat down as Juliet untied his bounds and pulled the bag from his head.

"I can save him," He said.

Juliet sighed. She knew that was why he was there, and in turn for his good deed he could have his old life again, go home and forget about it all. She wondered why he was so adamant about saving lives, about life in general, did death terrify him? Was life so precious to him that he'd save his sworn enemy for some sense of forgiveness, to erase his own sins. She thought back to him standing over Colleens body, a look of failure on his face, quickly overcome by curiosity as she entered the room.

Juliet's gaze shifted as she took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes.

She knew he could save him, she knew too much and ever since he came around she wished she had known much less.

His purpose was to make that very attempt, cut the flesh, save a life. But then it crossed Ben's mind that he could be used to get to Kate, to break her, to expose her raw emotion and the power that she wielded held deep inside her, a secret she kept locked up inside and thought no one knew.

"I know," she finally said.

"You don't understand, this isn't something we can let wait. This is my specialty, it must be done or he's going to die."

Did he crave it like a drug? Was his high saving lives, no needle, no crystalline powder neatly piled on a mirror could give Jack Shepard a rush, it was cutting at the flesh and fighting for another's survival that gave him his high.

He stopped and thought for a second, his breathing evening as his licked at his dry lips.

"That's why I'm here, isn't it? Enough with the mind games, is that why I'm here?" He growled, carnal rage flowing through his veins.

He could read her like a book and she pondered on connection, trying not to let his anger overwhelm her.

She looked at him, her face emotionless.

Before she could answer, Ben opened the heavy door and made his way in.

"That's enough chitchat for now Juliet," Ben said, eyeing Jack, his gaze never shifting. "The samples are prepared for you to look it, I want a full report when you're done. I feel the need to speed things along."

Juliet nodded and Jack laughed to himself as Ben gave his orders. Juliet felt weakened, not by the presence of Ben, but the presence of Jack.

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He wanted to say something, but nothing seemed right.

He moved towards the front of his cage and pressed his forehead against the bars.

He couldn't tell her what he had seen or of the games, wicked words and vicious lies and he didn't want her to know, he wanted to protect her and he wondered why. Why did he care and why did he fight for her? He didn't want to look because he didn't want her to see. they knew his weakness, a pair of green eyes and freckled cheeks and smile so bright it could outshine the stars on a clear summer's night.

He shifted as the sky darkened, wondering if they'd ever be found and wondering if she'd ever just give in and love him the way he loved her.

So many thoughts on his mind but the one he couldn't let slip was her. Two islands, the bunny alive, enough to make someone have an aneurysm and all he cared about was her, why did she look him the eyes and shoot him down like that? His heart heavy and his mind clouded now with anger and pain, the bunny had long since hopped off into oblivion, and at that point he wished she would too.

"You're a smart man, Jack," Ben said, clinging his hands together behind him as he walked over to face Jack. "Too smart for my liking, but you're stubborn and opinionated and I must admit I do enjoy it."

Jack just shook his head and laughed to himself, and Ben continued on,

"Does it give you a sense of purpose, Jack?" ben asked, "Being the great doctor, I mean. The one they run to, turn to, scream for. Your camp, shivering in the darkness wondering what to do because you're not there to lead them.."

"Is there a point here?" Jack groaned.

"I was getting there before you so rudely interrupted," Ben replied.

"It's you," Jack said, his tone even as he peered through the glass at the television.

"Elaborate," Ben said.

"The X-Rays, it's you."

"Cutting to the chase, aren't you..." Ben sat himself on the table in the center of the room and looked at Jack, pulling his glasses from his face and slipping them into his pocket. "Have I greatly increased your sense of purpose?" He asked.

Jack didn't bother to reply.

"You're a good man, Jack. Eager and willing to help those you've grown to detest. Perhaps we can convince you otherwise, but we don't have the time right now, do we?"

"You're going to die if I don't do something, quickly," Jack answered.

And Ben wonders how long Jack will play the hero, how long will he stand in the fire as his whole world turns to ashes?


End file.
